My views have evolved since I wrote this. I'm going to leave the original article, but it no longer fully reflects my perception. Now, it is clear to me that this is a private property issue. Human beings should never be restricted from moving freely across this leafy space ship. Develop some land. Make it yours. And then you set the rules about who you want using what you have built. Who you want building alongside you. That choice was yours once before, and it should be yours once again.
Immigration is a wonderful thing. Freeloading on the work of others is not.
America has many problems on her hands, but certainly one of the most pressing is illegal immigration. While the laws we have on the books would handle the situation about as well as it could be handled, those laws are not being enforced. Border patrol agents are being threatened by Homeland Security with their jobs for attempting to stop illegal immigration. The Department of Justice is coming down on states like Texas for trying to keep illegal residents from voting, which is already against the law. Here's the problem: Doing nothing about the state of illegal immigration is granting de facto amnesty to illegal immigrants. Ironically, securing our borders is one of the very few powers enumerated to our government by the Constitution, and they have failed miserably in this charge.
Obama wants to pass a new immigration reform bill that would legalize 11 million people who are here illegally. Doing so would send a clear message to the world: If you break U.S. laws, you will be rewarded. If you follow U.S. laws, you will be punished. The system already implement enforces illegal activity with free food, free housing, free healthcare, free education, and a free cell phone. At the same time, it punishes law-abiding hard work with excessive taxes, fees, and regulations. Legalizing 11 million immigrants would be a demoralizing slap in the face to those who wait as long as 25 years to enter America legally.
Lets look at the current situation. To put it into analogy: An intruder breaks into your house. You find them in your house, and you demand they leave. "But," they reason, "I've cleaned your floors, scrubbed your toilets, and made your bed! I deserve to stay here! I'm a good, honest person...except for when I broke into your house." You go to your local government to try and get them to evict your new resident, but they reason the same: "They've made your bed, cleaned your floors, folded your laundry, and scrubbed your toilet. They have a basic human right to stay in your home. After all, they're a good and honest person...except for when they broke into your house." But paying for their housing is not all you have to do. "It's only fair," your government says, "that you also pay for their food, education, healthcare, and ability to communicate with others. After all, those are basic human rights." So now, by mandate of your authorities, you are paying for the housing, food, education, clothing, healthcare, and cell phone of someone who contributes only a fraction of the costs of their upkeep. But this is only right - after all, they're good, honest people, except for...well, you know.
America cannot keep this up. As a nation, we are bankrupt. We have a growing national debt that will never be repaid. Cities across the country are declaring bankruptcy. Poverty is exploding. We cannot even afford to pay for our troops to eat properly. The very last thing we should be doing is rewarding illegal activity, especially when it is to our own detriment. The presence of tens of millions of illegal immigrants drives wages down for existing American citizens. We are finding it impossible to employ even the people who already live here. So far, the costs of providing a side "path to citizenship" come to $3.8 trillion, and that number is only going to grow. The only course of action that makes sense for America is to properly secure her borders and enforce the laws already in existence. Once we do this, we can start looking into simplifying the current immigration process.
The bottom line is this: Absolutely no amnesty. Period.
Author's Note: This article assumes the USA continues to exist in its current state.
No comments:
Post a Comment